


Growing Up Into Old Fa(t)es

by mesoquatic



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Druid!Michael, F/F, F/M, He saves Jeremy multiple times, M/M, More tags to be added, Mythical Beings, Supernatural - Freeform, growing up fic, he also tells him straight out its magic but Jeremy never really believes him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-08 00:57:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11635605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mesoquatic/pseuds/mesoquatic
Summary: Jeremy always knew something wasn't right about Michael, maybe it was how he seemed to talk to trees and socialize with the bushes, but it sure saved his life once he started to realize what was really going on.





	1. 01-Kindergarten

Jeremy, ever since he met Michael on the kindergarten playground, knew something about him wasn’t normal. Even if meeting Michael was by pure coincidence. He was the weird kid, Jeremy knew this by the girl he would hang out with. He’d get in trouble for going too far away from the playground and climbing trees. He seemed to always have a twig or leaf in his hair.

They didn’t officially meet until they were halfway through the school year. The girl that Jeremy would hang out left him, calling him a loser. He had slunk to a lone tree, possibly too far away from where he was allowed to be. The leaves rustled mysteriously above, scaring him a little. He was about to cry when suddenly Michael had dropped from a branch.

“You aren’t supposed to be out this far.” He pointed out, sitting down next to Jeremy, leaves in hand. He started to pick a bunch of flowers.

“Y-you aren’t either!” He responded, standing up.

“It’s just a rule. Are you scared of a lunch detention?” He fiddled around with the flowers in his hand and glanced up to Jeremy. “What happened to your girlfriend, Brooke was it?”

“Brooke isn’t my g-girlfriend!” He shot back. “And-and lunch detention is not good!”

Michael chuckled in a high pitched voice. “Whatever you say.”

“Michael Mell, Jeremiah Heere!” One of the adults came around the tree. “You are not supposed to leave the playground, lunch detention for both of you.” She escorted both of them back to the playground. Jeremy had gone home crying to his parents.

The next day, it almost seemed right to go to the tree and Jeremy did. Once again, Michael fell down from the branches. “Why are you here?”

“I-uh-”

“Does your girlfriend not like you anymore?”

“S-she is not my girlfriend!” He shot back, almost identical to yesterday. Michael glanced back to the playground.

“She left you for Jake D-”

Again, the process repeated. Adult, lunch detention, Jeremy went home crying. The next; they weren’t allowed out to recess for a week. That week changed Jeremy’s life.

The teacher had long forgotten the two students and fallen asleep at his desk. Michael sat on the top of his desk, across the room from Jeremy. He fiddled with the same flowers from the last few days, somehow still living despite not having any water. Jeremy was intrigued, even if he didn’t know that word yet.

“How are your flowers still alive?” He stood in front of Michael’s desk, curious. “And-and you aren’t allowed to sit on your desk.”

“Are you an adult?” He asked, looking up from the flowers. “You sure do like your rules. Sounds like an adult. Brooke must have hated it when you two dated.”

“She was not my girlfriend!” He jumped at the slight snore from their teacher. Michael shushed him.

“Be quiet or he will wake up.”

Jeremy nodded, watching him twist the stems of the flowers together. “How are they still alive?”

“Magic.” He deadpanned.

That was Jeremy’s first clue. He was young and didn’t believe Michael, but that was his first clue.


	2. 02-First Grade

Michael, as Jeremy would learn, was the most interesting person that Jeremy had ever met. And Jeremy had his parents for, well, his parents. Michael was interesting for multiple reasons which all added up to one real story; he insisted that magic was real.

In first grade, they saw each other on the first day and were ecstatic. Their parents finally met, Michael’s moms introduced themselves to Jeremy’s dad. Jeremy’s own mom had skipped out on his first day due to work. Michael was embarrassed the whole time.

The second the parents left, the teacher had it out for Michael. Jeremy noticed this way before Michael ever did. It wasn’t just the teacher, there were other parents and classmates, too. Jeremy didn’t really understand it at first but yes, Michael’s parents were different. They were two women.

For that year, it was a break from Michael really saving Jeremy. Jeremy saved him on more occasions. He was the only kid in their class who was totally okay with it. There wasn’t anything wrong with it in his mind.

“Michael?” Jeremy called out nervously. School had ended thirty minutes ago. Jeremy had missed the bus because Michael wasn’t there to walk out with him. “Michael?"

Some rustling came from the tree, their tree. Michael had always liked that tree. It was the same tree that had kickstarted their friends ship a good nine months back. Their conversations that year became less repetitive and more friendly. Instead of crying, Jeremy would go home laughing, telling his parents all about the misadventures he got in trouble for that day.

“Michael?” He called out again, having made it to the tree. “Are you up there?” More rustling. “Michael?” He secured his grip up on a branch and pulled himself up. He was anxious and scared, wobbling around the thicker branches. “M-Michael?”

“Jeremy?” Michael’s face appeared in the leaves, making Jeremy tremble. Michael looked terrible, bags under his eyes combined with his bloodshot eyes. He had been crying. “Why are you still here?”

He pulled himself up to the branch where Michael was. The leaves cascaded over them like a whole different world. The spiders and bugs didn’t seem threatening but welcoming. He turned to Michael, now knowing why he liked it up here so much, even if he was scared for his life. “Why are you crying?”

“Chloe and Jake made fun of me again.” He let out, wiping at his eyes. “They don’t like it that I do not have a dad.” Jeremy felt like he was going to cry, too.

“Why didn’t you go home?” He questioned, taking one hand off the branch for support and placing it on his shoulder. Michael slowly lifted his right sleeve, revealing a giant bruise.

“They told me that if I told someone, they would do it more.” He sobbed, leaning against Jeremy’s shoulder. He didn’t seem to care about his own lack of support on the branch.

“You need to tell someone-”

“I don’t want it to continue.”

“They won’t stop unless you tell an adult.” He sighed. “Like the principal! He’s really threatening!”

“Threatening?” He asked. The word was foreign to him.

“Yeah, I saw it in this book I was reading. I read books without pictures!” Michael gasped.

“Without pictures?” His eyes were wide in amazement. “Really?”

“Yeah!” He smiled. “I could show you sometime!”

“Maybe we can read one together?” Jeremy nodded, smiling even wider.

“Yeah!” He repeated. Michael giggled and it was contagious. Within minutes, the two boys were giggling together over small things, like the spider that seemed to dance when Michael asked him to.

“Jeremy?” A voice called out, startling both of them. It was Jeremy’s mom.

“Jeremy?” His dad followed suit.

“Michael?” One of Michael’s moms. Jeremy hadn’t met them enough to really know which. The voices were racing over, their shoes crunching against the November grass. Eventually, all three of them were looking up at the branches. Michael’s mom seemed a little disappointed but expecting. Jeremy’s parents were straight worried.

Michael jumped down to another branch, wobbling with complete trust in his eyes. He motioned Jeremy down. “I don’t think I’ll make it if I jump.” Jeremy mumbled, holding on to another branch, stepping down carefully.

“Jeremiah?” His mother called, recognizing his voice almost instantly. She searched frantically, only seeing Michael in the leaves. She was concerned, seeing Michael balancing on the branch like nothing could go wrong. Spoiler alert: it did.

Jeremy slipped on the next branch and fell over screaming. Michael panicked, grabbing on to tree and reaching for Jeremy. The tree moved like a hand, grabbing on to Jeremy before he hit the ground. Jeremy’s eyes were clenched shut as he parents ran over and helped him. His only injury was a large scratch on his torso, definitely going to leave a scar (and it did).

Michael’s mom watched him carefully in the tree, not sure if she fully believed her eyes. She was Michael’s biological mom. It was a dark story about how she ended up with her son but she put it aside as much as she could. But, one thing was true, now. She knew now, without a doubt, that he was like his father.


	3. 03-Second Grade

Jeremy’s parents never thought about their kid as a troublemaker until he started to get into fights during second grade. Sure enough, they weren’t actual fights more or threats or name calling with an Indian burn or two. But, the school did count them as fights and about half way through the school year, Jeremy was sent home for a week and told not to come to school for that time.

During that time, Michael was on edge. One of his moms promised him that she would drive him over to visit Jeremy on Friday. This gave him hope as he collected extra papers of homework for his friend. Of course, it was all dandy until Thursday came along.

Thursday started the same. The same little hallway leading to his same little desk and the same little classroom. The lesson changed, just as it did everyday. It all seemed the same.

When first recess came along, he was climbing up the tree as he always did when it all changed.

“Look, the freak’s hiding from us! How sweet!” He looked down to find his tormentors, a word he learned from reading books without pictures with Jeremy, staring up at him from the base of the tree.

“He looks scared.” Brooke noted, smiling in her pink dress. Chloe was wearing one almost identical to hers.

“Go on Jake, his boyfriend isn’t here to protect him.” Chloe urged just before Jake started up the tree.

-

Jeremy had a boring day. Not just a boring day, a boring week. His parents weren’t pleased to have Jeremy as a child at this moment. They were, certainly, not okay with how they found out he was getting into fights. There were, especially, not okay with him getting suspended.

He was left to his room except for food, drink, and to use the bathroom. They took his books away, his Tamagotchi, his toys. He was left with a stack of paper and his pencils. He drew Michael a couple of times, imagining that they were together during the week. But alas, it wasn’t something that could be.

By Thursday, he felt something was going to go wrong. He had protected Michael so many times that it was almost habit to make sure he was okay. He could not right now. That bugged him out of his head.

His parents wouldn’t be happy once they realized he snuck out. The school would also certainly not be happy with him sneaking onto the playground. Especially if he was there and his feeling was wrong. His suspension could be extended or even worse, he could be expelled.

He hoped he was right.

Jeremy avoided the main streets as much as he could. The first reason was because he only knew the general direction of where his school was. The other reason was that he was always taught not to trust strangers. Strangers would be more common on the main roads. But, because he was an idiot sometimes, strangers would have a better chance at kidnapping him on an emptier road. Like the one he was on right now.

Happily enough, he was untouched and now crawling through the hole in the fence. It was recess, meaning he could just blend in with the kids and find Michael. He had no idea which recess it was, though. That idea didn’t stop him. If Michael wasn’t there, he’d wait for a long time in the tree.

When he got closer, he realized that someone was at the base of the tree, looking up with a grin worthy of a villain. No, two girls. Not Michael but Chloe and Brooke.

The tree shook when Jeremy approached and he searched the branches, trying to find his friend.

“Look who snuck in to see their boyfriend, Brooke.” He turned, realizing that the two girls saw him.

Chloe pulled him away from the tree and he held up his hand, ready to fight if he had to.

“Hey! Jerry, it’s not right to hit a girl!” Brooke teased next to him.

Soon enough, Jake was climbing down the tree, pulling Michael with him. He was smiling, letting Michael go on the ground. His eyes lit up when he saw Jeremy there.

“Look who showed up!” Jake giggled, squatting down and lifting Michael’s head up to see Jeremy. Michael had scratched all along his body, more than usual, with the addition to more twigs. “Jerry-”

“His name is Jeremy.”

“Who cares?” Jake dropped his head back down to the dirt. “He’s too late to save you today, tree boy.”

Jeremy was started to question why they suspended him but not Jake.

Jake kicked at Michael’s stomach, laughing a little as he did. Jeremy struggled, trying to get away from Chloe. Once he did, he took all his strength to punch Jake right in the nose. Jake stumbled back, pure shock because of how wimpy Jeremy’s punch was.

“Get out of my way, loser!”

“Jacob Dillinger!”

They all went wide eyed, looking up to two adults with shiny vests. Jeremy went back to Michael, sitting down next to him to make sure he was okay. It was all for nothing as one of the adults pulled him away.

“Jeremy Heere?”

Jeremy smiled nervously, waving a little up at the man. He sighed, letting go of him to help Michael off the ground.

-

“You didn’t have to do that for me,” Michael mumbled the second they left the principal's office. Both of their parents were still inside. “Your suspension got extended to another week.”

“But Jake got suspended. Also, Brooke and Chloe!”

“I’m as lonely as ever for another week, then?”

Jeremy frowned, grabbing his hand.

“I will sneak in to keep you company if I have to.”

“Jeremy,” He bit his lip. “That includes getting your suspension extended.”

“But-”

“And you heard him, you’ll get expelled if you keep doing this. It’s best to wait.”

“Is that what you want me to do?”

“It’s the best way.”


End file.
